Obesity in Different Age Groups

Obesity and children

Obesity in children is something which we are coming across more and more nowadays. This, to a very great extent, could be attributed to heredity. It is commonly found that a child born to overweight parents, has a 90% chance to become obese.

Why heredity causes obesity in children

The question that may cross any one's mind is. why does heredity cause overweight ? It is because in most of the cases the chi Id sim­ply inherits good ap­petite and they are not discouraged from eat­ing anything and ev­erything at any time and all the time. This results in faulty diges­tion and poor absorp­tion, culminating in obesity.

It is also found that children born to mothers who are over-fed with more of artificial and fatty food lacking in nutrition during their last three months of pregnancy, give birth to over-weight children. It is also wrongiy believed by most mothers that an over-weight child must be fed more because the size of the stomach seems large. The child is trained to overeat at a very young age and the weight keeps increasing alarmingly.

Sweets and obesity — Inseparable companions

Young children are fond of sweets. This tendency makes them eat sweets at the beginning of their meals. This brings on a false sense of satisfied appetite. This satisfaction is achieved before they eat sufficient food thai supply nutritive needs. The sight of vegetables and other nutritive food, at such times, make them turn away from them. Consequently they return, after a little while, with hunger and insist on having the same type of food that they had earlier.

If discipline is not instil led in children right from the beginning, to consume nutritive food like vegetables, milk etc., they will end up eating food only of their choice which is harmful to their health. Many of those children who indulge in eating sweets often, rarely relish their food unless it is excessively sweetened.

There are some children who also enjoy natural food like fruits, but only when they are included in salads, ice-creams and custard that are sweetened. But some may argue that children who are extremely thin do relish sweets with the same interest. These children generally are over-active for their age, so the extra calories they consume get converted into energy. But their over indulgence in such type of food saps their body reserve and though they do not become obese, they become prone to many deficiencies. In such children during their childhood bad teeth, stomach and intestinal disorders occur frequently due to bad digestion and assimilation' of what they eat. As a result they remain thin uplo their adolescence. But as they grow into their youth there comes a sudden appearance of flesh around their waist and abdomen. A steady increase in their weight which never abates as he or she grows older, is the unfortunate result.